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Submission

Submission: the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.

This weekend was an awesome weekend for Ohana Academy and also for Jiu Jitsu. On Friday we had Professor Gliesdon “Poney” Cutis compete at F2W’s pro grappling event in Austin, Tx. The very next day we had kids, teens, and adults compete in F2W’s grappling tournament. Later that evening we had the pleasure of watching the UFC and the demonstration of the relevancy of jiu jitsu in MMA. I want to start by saying congratulations to Professor Poney and all of the kids, teens, and adults that competed this weekend!

After watching Professor Poney and also both main event matches in the UFC, end via the same submission. I knew what this week’s powerful word should be; submission. submission is the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person. Lets dive in and examine this weeks powerful word submission.

Submissions make jiu jitsu fun. They are the icing on the cake. People usually remember who submitted who and how, rather than the side control escape, sweep, or pass that made the submission possible. Everybody wants to know how to make someone submit. I think this is normal. Most people enter into something with the end in mind. It is only after they get a taste of the sacrifice and time necessary to develop into that end that people begin to have a greater appreciation for the art of jiu jitsu. Once a beginner learns the underlying positional game of jiu jitsu they find themselves beginning to be successful with submitting to their partner or opponent. This is when you start to have fun, because submissions are what everyone can identify with. It is important to always remember where it lies in the hierarchy of jiu jitsu.

-Survive

-Progress

-Dominate

-Submit

Lets examine Professor Poney’s match according to the above mentioned hierarchy. In Professor Poney’s Match on Friday where he tried two different submissions. About 2 min into the match Professor Poney went for a flying armbar which he missed but this allowed him to begin working a back take from the bottom. This ultimately caused his opponent to give up his top position and try to recover a half guard. From here Professor Poney progressed to mount where he dominated the technical mount position and began setting up his taking of the back. His opponent tried to defend the position but was being positionally dominated by Professor Poney’s pressure. This lead to his opponent showing his neck and Poney pounced with a Rear Naked Choke or also called the mata leon. So you see in the beginning Professor Poney survived the takedown attempts. He progressed with a nice sweep and almost took his back from the bottom. Then he progressed past his opponents guard to dominate and eventually set up the submission! In Jiu Jitsu, there are hundreds of different chokes and joint locks that twist, bend and compress the body in a huge variety of ways. In a competition, however, most of what you actually see working between two equally skilled opponents is only a small subset of all the possible submissions.

Submissions are also a major component that sets jiu jitsu apart from other martial arts. For example, in striking arts (boxing, muay thai, karate, tae kwon do, etc) the finish would be to KO or out strike your opponent/partner hurting them more than they hurt you. The nature of a KO is not something that you can control without diluting the technique. For example, if you are sparring and you see an opportunity for a head kick. You throw the technique but have to pull back at the last second to keep from seriously injuring your partner in training. Obviously if it was a competition you wouldn't hold back. For me this brings up a serious issue. How will I be able to legitimately throw this technique if I train to hold back? It is the beginning of the degradation of reality in order to train safely with your partners. With Jiu Jitsu every person is in control of their own destiny. If something hurts, tap. If you feel uncomfortable in any position, tap. From day one with Jiu Jitsu we learn to trust that your partner will always respect the tap. Now we venture closer to reality when we spar or roll because of this. It is because of this concept that jiu jitsu is the best fit for anti bullying situations, competitions, and self defense etc. It is also why Jiu Jitsu is for everyone. You and you alone control your destiny. This allows us to hunt for the submission. To go all out and try to execute as perfectly as possible. At any point and time from the moment it starts to when you pass out or dislocate a joint it is your partners responsibility to submit.

This week spend some time marinating on the word submission. Ask yourself where are the areas in your game that you find yourself being submitted? Where do you find yourself normally setting up a submission. Then put the work in on the underlying positional game.